Meridor will become minister without portfolio supervising the intelligence service, Mossad, and internal security service, Shin Beth, said the paper.

He also gets responsibility for the Israel's atomic energy commission.

Meridor, a centrist deputy, has previously headed parliament's defense and foreign affairs committee. Formerly member of the main right-wing party, Likud, he has also served as justice and finance minister, said the paper.

Mossad and Shin Beth come under the direct authority of the prime minister.

Mossad has had difficulties in recent months, with deputy head, reservist general Amiram Levine, resigning in March in protest at the delay in his being appointed head of the service.

The current head of Mossad, Ephraim Halevy, took up his role in April 1998 after the resignation of Danny Yatom.

Yatom stepped down in the wake of several fiascos including a failed assassination attempt in Jordan in December 1997 on Khaled Mesha'l, head of Hamas Political bureau.

He has become Barak's security adviser.

Avraham Dichter was named head of Shin Beth in Mai to replace Ami Ayalon, said the Jerusalem Post - Albawaba.com